Food being distributed at a childhood malnutrition centre in a Somalian town
Qatar Charity (QC) has established seven relief projects in Somalia, benefiting some 20,000 displaced families.
The projects cost around QR1.2mn, donated by benefactors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Jassim al-Salem, executive director of international development at QC, said that the projects aim to support the return of the displaced as well as the reconstruction of areas affected by drought.
“This will enable the returnees to have a decent and stable life in their original places, transferring them from people in need to productive people,”
he said.
The projects target Bay, Bakool and lower Shabelle provinces, and will include the distribution of basic cooking equipment at a cost of QR602,000, benefiting 3,000 affected families, plastic sheets at a cost of QR424,000, benefiting 7,750 families, a childhood malnutrition project worth QR33,000, a potable water project worth QR28,000, a project to provide a water tank to an orphanage at a cost of QR15,000, a project to provide support to the Afgooye Center for Maternal and Child Care at a cost of QR11,000, and a project to purchase and distribute mosquito nets at a cost of QR70,000.
Al-Salem said that the implementation of these projects is based on the urgent needs of the affected and in line with the mission and objectives of QC.
The childhood malnutrition project is expected to benefit 200 people on a daily basis, including displaced children, mothers and pregnant women, in the Poly Tknico IDP camp in the capital of Mogadishu. Each of the 200 beneficiaries will receive soup and high nutrition biscuits.
The Afgooye Center project was implemented due to the large number of people suffering from malnutrition and serious diseases in the Afgooye area and the inadequacy of the current health centre to provide the necessary health services. The project focuses particularly on maternal and child healthcare, and aims to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics. It will benefit 120 people a day.
The mosquito net project is intended to reduce the infant mortality rate, the incidence of malaria and other infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes within the IDP camps, and will benefit 5,000 displaced families.
The potable water project aims to provide safe drinking water to the displaced, reducing the level of disease due to drinking
contaminated water.
The project to provide a water tank to the House of the Mother of the Believers orphanage follows a visit to the orphanage by a QC delegation, which decided that a water tank would be an effective means to improve the living conditions of the orphans. The project will benefit over 200 orphans, as well as
orphanage staff.
Al-Salem said that educational facilities would also be provided, as well as income generating projects to enable self-sufficiency, agricultural facilities, and the distribution of dry rations covering beneficiaries for a period of three months.
Related Story